Device for stereoscopic image observation within an increased observation area

ABSTRACT

A device for reproducing a stereoscopic image viewable within an increased observation area, the device including an image display device which displays a plurality of images of an object pixel by pixel from various perspectives, a polarization arrangement for producing a first polarized image associated with a right eye and a second polarized image associated with a left eye of an observer, a lens network spaced directly after the polarization arrangement which directs beams associated with each of the left and right polarized images to the respective left and right eye for representing the object pixel by pixel for observing the stereoscopic image, wherein the lens network and polarization arrangement are arranged such that the stereoscopic image can be perceived in a first region of the observation area without polarized spectacles, and in a second region outside the first region of the observation area, by means of polarized spectacles over the left and right eyes.

This is a division of application Ser. No. 08/537,707, filed Oct. 19, 1995 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,782,365.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a device for reproducing a stereoscopic image viewable within an increased observation area.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is known to generate a stereoscopic image with the aid of two imaging devices, two image signal processors and a special image signal processor. The special image signal processor constructs a pixel-like image for the right and left eye from two camera images, so that a stereoscopic image effect is produced. In each case, 50% of the pixels from the camera images are used. The special image signal processor is very complex and difficult to design, since the circuit must undertake a switch-over at each pixel in each case for the image of the right and left eye.

The invention is based on the object of producing a simple and inexpensive arrangement which visualizes a stereoscopic image via a pixel-like registration and/or display. This object is achieved by means of the features of the invention specified in claim 1. Advantageous further developments of the invention are specified in the subclaims.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The arrangement according to the invention registers an object via an optical unit and, by means of a different polarization of the beams, a stereoscopic image is produced on an image recording device and/or from an image display device. The optical unit is divided or subdivided into two optical units for registering the object, one optical unit registering the image region for the left eye and the other optical unit registering the image region for the right eye. Each optical unit is linearly polarized using a first polarization unit. This polarization is carried out with offset angles, this angle preferably being 90°. The polarized beams from the first polarization unit are incident on a second polarization unit and are fed by this polarization unit to the image recording device and/or from the image display device.

The object to be registered is thus registered with two optical means, each optical means enabling the registration specially for one eye as a result of the polarization of the beams. The polarized beams are produced on the image recording device and/or from the image display device as a matrix which is polarized pixel by pixel, so that a stereoscopic image is produced.

In the case of a further development of the invention, the object is registered via two optical units and the beams are fed to a lens-like arrangement via formation units. This lens-like arrangement consists of a plurality of lenses which are curved upwards and are arranged side by side, the arrangement as a whole having a planar underside. As a result of the curvature, this lens-like arrangement is capable of separating the beams and of representing the registered object pixel by pixel on the image recording or image display device, so that a stereoscopic image is produced. The lens-like arrangement can preferably be substituted by a prism-like arrangement.

The invention has the advantage that only one imaging device is used. Furthermore, only one image signal processor is needed. A special image signal processor for the projection of the image is not necessary. In addition, the synchronization signal for the cameras and the special image signal processor are also no longer needed. 100% of the pixels are used. The arrangement visualizes an image pixel by pixel, so that a stereoscopic image is realized in a simple and inexpensive way.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is explained below using the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows the process according to the invention,

FIG. 2 shows a further exemplary embodiment of the process according to the invention,

FIG. 3 shows a next exemplary embodiment of the process according to the invention and

FIGS. 4-29 show further exemplary embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows the process according to the invention. An object O is registered via two optical units 1l, 1r. The optical units lead the beam path to the respective first polarization units 2l, 2r. The polarization units 2l, 2r lead the preferably mutually perpendicularly polarized beams further to a second polarization unit 3. From there, the beams pass, preferably perpendicularly, to the image recording or image display device 4. There, the beams, which are differently polarized pixel by pixel, for the left and right eye Bl, Br are imaged and generate a stereoscopic image on the image recording or image display device 4. The image recording or image display device 4 can be formed by a special CCD or LCD, so that further processing for the purposes of transmission or recording is possible.

FIG. 2 shows a further exemplary embodiment of the invention. The optical units 1l, 1r register an object O (not shown here) and lead the beams via mirrors 5 to the polarization units 2l, 2r. From there, the beams pass in turn to the polarization unit 3 and are passed on to the image recording or image display device 4.

FIG. 3 shows a next exemplary embodiment of the invention. The optical units 1l, 1r register an object (not shown here). The optical unit 1l leads the beam path via the associated polarization unit 2l to the beam separator 6. The optical unit 1r leads the beam path to a mirror 5, which passes the beams on to the associated optical unit 2r. From the optical unit 2r, the beams pass to the beam separator 6. The beam separator 6 leads the beams from the optical units 1l, 1r to the polarization unit 3, and from there the beams pass to the image recording or image display device 4.

The image display device and image recording device are preferably designed for three-dimensional display or recording.

FIG. 4 shows a further exemplary embodiment of the invention. The optical units 1l, 1r lead the beams via formation units 13l, 13r and pass them to a lens-like arrangement 11. The formation units 13l, 13r ensure that in each case the beams for the left image region and for the right image region are incident on the lens-like arrangement and pass from there to the image recording or image display device 10, which in turn produces a stereoscopic image pixel by pixel for the left and right eye Bl, Br.

FIG. 5 shows the optical units 1l, 1r, the lens-like arrangement 11 and the image recording or image display device 10. The optical units 1l, 1r are fitted over the lens-like arrangement 11 in such a way that the emergent beams from the optical unit; 1l, 1r pass to the curved surface of the lens-like arrangement 11 and, as a result of the refraction of the beams, in each case a pixel by pixel assignment is guaranteed on the image recording or image display device 10 for the left and eye Bl, Br.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged representation of the beams registered via the right optical unit. The beams pass to the lens-like arrangement 11 and, as a result of the refraction of the beams in the lens-like arrangement 11, the beams pass to the envisaged right pixels Br of the image recording or image display device 10.

FIG. 7 shows how, via the optical units 1l, 1r, the beams pass via the mirrors 5 and the lens-like arrangement 11 to the image recording or image display device 10.

FIG. 8 shows a prism-like arrangement 12 instead of the lens-like arrangement 11. The beams li from the left optical unit and ri from the right optical unit are registered in front of the prism-like arrangement 12 and passed on to the image recording or image display device 10.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged representation of the prism-like arrangement. Here, three beams li are split into X, Y and Z. The left beam X is incident on the side U of the prism and, as a result of too low a refraction of the beam, this passes to a so-called lens shield is, with the result that the beam does not reach a pixel field which is reserved for the right optical unit. The beam Y, as desired, reaches a left pixel region Bl as a result of the refraction. The beam Z is incident on the edge V of the prism-like arrangement 12 and, as a result of the different refractions, no longer passes out of the prism-like arrangement 12 to the image recording or image display device 10.

FIG. 10 shows once more the lens-like arrangement 11, which is connected directly to the image recording or image display device 10. The beams ri from the right optical unit 1r, not shown here, pass as a result of refraction to a right pixel region of the image recording or image display device 10.

FIG. 1l shows the subdivision of the image recording or image display device 10 for a four-fold pixel representation. The subdivision is alternately a, b, c, d. The beam path can be seen in FIG. 12. The optical units 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d register the object, not shown here. The beams are led by the optical units to the lens-like arrangement 11. As a result of refraction of the beams, they pass to the respective matrix field a, b, c, d of the optical unit.

Further exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown in the following drawings.

FIG. 13 shows a left optical unit 1l, a right optical unit 1r, a fibre bundle 21, an image recording or image display device 4, the horizontal direction h and the vertical direction v. The image region for the left eye is registered using the optical unit 1l. The image region for the right eye is registered using the optical unit 1r. Both the optical units 1l, 1r lead the beams to the respective plane of the fibre bundle 21. The fibres of the fibre bundle 2l are arranged on the side of the surface arranged towards the image recording or image display device in such a manner that, in accordance with FIG. 14, in each case vertical strip image regions sli for the left eye and strip image regions rli for the right eye result in the horizontal direction.

FIG. 14 shows the alternating representation of the strip image regions sli, rli for the left and right eye in the horizontal direction.

FIG. 15 shows the alternating sequences of the strip image regions sli, rli for the left and right eye in the vertical direction. If the arrangement for the vertical direction is used, it is necessary to use a video signal processor for the stereoscopic display and a lens-like arrangement.

FIG. 16 shows the fibre bundle unit 2l, the optical units 1l, 1r, a colour filter 22 and the image recording or image display device 4. In this arrangement, the colour filter 22 is preferably arranged before the image recording or image display device 4, since in this manner only one colour filter has to be used.

FIG. 17 shows the optical units 1l, 1r, the matrix colour filter 23, a fibre bundle unit 2l and the image recording or image display device for red, green and blue 4r, 4g, 4b. In each case the beam path extends through the optical units 1l, 1r to the respectively associated matrix colour filter 23, further to the fibre bundle 21 and ends on the image recording or image display devices red 4r, green 4g and blue 4b.

FIG. 18 shows the optical units 1l, 1r, the fibre bundle unit 2l, the colour filters red 22r, green 22g, blue 22b and the image recording or image display device 4. The beam path extends via the optical units 1l, 1r via the fibre bundle unit 2l, through the respective colour filter red 22r, green 22g and blue 22b, to the image display devices 4.

FIG. 19 shows the optical units 1l, 1r, the exposure units 23, the negation unit 24, the mirrors 5, the image recording or image display device 4, the image display driver unit 25, the timing control unit 26, the amplifier 27, the video signal processor 28, the image switch 29, the timing division signal for a stereoscopic image 30 and the signals for the left and right image lis, ris. The object, not shown here, is registered by the optical unit 1l, 1r. The respective beams are led via the exposure unit 23 and the mirrors 5 to the image recording or image display device 4.

The exposure unit 23 is driven via the timing control unit 26. The negation unit 24 is used for the purpose of allowing in each case only the beams from the left optical unit 1l or those from the right optical unit 1r to pass through. The exposure unit 23 can preferably be of mechanical design or also in the form of a liquid-crystal exposure unit. The timing control unit 26 furthermore drives the image recording or image display device driver unit 25 and also the image switch 29. The driving is carried out in such a way that the image recording or image display device 4 is informed in each case as to whether the beams from the left optical unit 1l or from the right optical unit 1r are incident on it. This information is also communicated to the image switch 29. The image recording or image display device 4 passes the signals further to the video signal processor 28 via the amplifier 27. The timing division signal for the stereoscopic image 30 is applied to the video signal processor 28. This signal is also passed on to the image switch 29, which in each case switches through the left image signal lis and the right image signal ris.

FIG. 20 has, in the lower portion, the same construction as FIG. 19. The difference from FIG. 19 consists in the fact that the exposure units 23, the negation unit 24 and a mirror 5 have been omitted. Technically, the control of the beams is achieved by means of a movable mirror 5m which is driven by a controller 31 via the timing control unit 26. The timing control unit 26 thus drives the controller 31 in such a way that the movable mirror 5m is located respectively in position a for the beams from the optical unit 1r and in position b for the beams from the optical unit 1l. The processing of the beams takes place in the same way as described in FIG. 18.

FIG. 21 shows a similar construction to FIG. 19. The units in the lower portion of the picture are identical to FIG. 19. A change with respect to FIG. 19 consists in the rotating exposure unit 32. The timing control unit 26 drives the rotating exposure unit 32 in such a way that the beams from the left optical unit 1l and from the right optical unit 1r respectively successively reach the image recording or image display device 4. The processing with the timing control unit 26 corresponds to the function described with regard to FIG. 19. The direction of rotation is shown by the arrow d.

FIG. 22 shows a lens-like arrangement 35 in the vertical direction, a lens-like arrangement 36 in the horizontal direction and a modified image recording or image display device 37. In an arrangement of such a design, the result for the observer is a stereoscopic image in the case of a movement in the horizontal direction or in the case of a movement in the vertical direction of the eyes. The observation position of the eyes at the top is shown by 42. The observation position of the eyes at the bottom is shown by 43. The result on the modified image recording or image display device 37, as a result of the vertically and horizontally arranged lens arrangements, is in each case one image 38 for the right eye, one image 39 for the left eye, one image 40 for the lower observation position and one image 41 for the upper image observation position. It is also possible to construct the arrangement 37 by means of a flat panel display.

FIG. 23 shows the top view of the arrangement shown by FIG. 22. It can furthermore be seen from this view that in each case the pixels Be for the left eye and the pixels Br for the right eye are shown on the modified image recording or image display device 37.

FIG. 24 represents the side view of the arrangement described with regard to FIG. 22. There it can be seen that the modified image recording or image display device 37 has an image region 41 of the upper image observation position and an image region 40 for the lower image observation. By means of an arrangement of this type of vertical and horizontal lens arrangements, it is thus possible to observe the images split up onto the modified image recording or image display device 37 stereoscopically. The splitting up onto the modified image recording or image display device is carried out in each case pixel by pixel in the horizontal direction, matched for the right and left eye and in the vertical direction to the upper and lower observation position of the image, so that a type of matrix results.

FIG. 25 shows a matrix of this type, made of the vertically different images 47 having vertical image regions Vm, V1, V2 . . . to Vm-1, Vm and of the various horizontal images 48 having horizontal image regions hm, h1, h2 . . . to hm-l, hm.

FIG. 26 shows a combination of the horizontal and vertical arrangement of the lenses. Hence, the different vertical image regions 47 and different horizontal image regions 48 are registered using a modified lens-like arrangement 49.

FIG. 27 shows a lens-like arrangement 11, the right eye 44, the left: eye 45, pixels Bl for the left eye, pixels Br for the right eye and a front glass for the display 50. By observing the image through a lens-like arrangement 11 and by displaying the image in pixel form, a stereoscopic image can be perceived with the eyes.

FIG. 28 shows a stereoscopic display 53, a stereoscopic image region 51 without spectacles, a stereoscopic image region 52 with spectacles, polarized spectacles 54, a right eye 44 and a left eye 45. If the observer is located in the stereoscopic image region 51, he perceives a stereoscopic image even without the specialty polarized spectacles 54. If the observer leaves the region, a stereoscopic image can be perceived only using the polarized spectacles 54. In order that a stereoscopic image can be perceived using polarized spectacles, the stereoscopic display 53 is constructed as shown in FIG. 29.

FIG. 29 shows the polarized spectacles 54, a lens-like arrangement 11, pixels Bli for the left image, pixels Bri for the right image, a polarization arrangement pri for the right image and a polarization arrangement pli for the left image. As a result of an arrangement constructed in this way, it is possible to achieve the impression of a stereoscopic image at various distances, using polarized spectacles. The type of polarization of the spectacles and of the polarization arrangements on the stereoscopic display 53 can be both linearly polarized and circularly polarized. 

I claim:
 1. A device for reproducing a stereoscopic image viewable within an increased observation area, the device includingan image display device which displays a plurality of images of an object pixel by pixel from various perspectives; separation means which lead items of image information of the images displayed to various positions, wherein the separation means includes a polarization arrangement for producing a first right polarized image associated with a right eye and a second left polarized image associated with a left eye of an observer, and a lens arrangement spaced directly after the polarization arrangement which directs beams associated with each of the left and right polarized images to the respective left and right eye for representing the object pixel by pixel for observing the stereoscopic image, wherein the lens arrangement and polarization arrangement are arranged in such a way that the stereoscopic image can be perceived in a first region of the observation area without polarized spectacles, and in a second region outside the first region of the observation area, by means of polarized spectacles over the left and right eyes. 